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Israel to Sue New York Times Over ‘Blood Libel’ Accusing Troops of Raping Palestinian Prisoners

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Israel to Sue New York Times Over ‘Blood Libel’ Accusing Troops of Raping Palestinian Prisoners

Silhouette of a police officer standing in a dimly lit prison corridor with barred cell doors on either side.

Silhouette of a police officer standing in a dimly lit prison corridor with barred cell doors on either side.

Israel is threatening legal action against The New York Times over a Nicholas Kristof opinion column alleging widespread sexual abuse of Palestinian detainees by Israeli personnel.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar said the article was “one of the most hideous and distorted lies ever published against the State of Israel in the modern press.”

“Today I instructed my legal advisers to consider the harshest legal action against The New York Times and Nicholas Kristof,” Netanyahu said.

“They defamed the soldiers of Israel and perpetuated a blood libel about rape, trying to create a false symmetry between the genocidal terrorists of Hamas and Israel’s valiant soldiers,” he added.

“Under my leadership, Israel will not be silent. We will fight these lies in the court of public opinion and in the court of law.”

Kristof’s column alleged “a pattern of widespread Israeli sexual violence against men, women, and even children” involving prison guards, soldiers, Shin Bet interrogators, and settlers.

The Israel Prison Service rejected the claims, calling them “false and entirely unfounded, while the country’s foreign ministry described it as “one of the worst blood libels in modern media.”

Israeli officials also criticized the sources cited in the piece, including the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor and the Red Cross.

Israel has argued the article ignored evidence it says shows Hamas carried out systematic sexual violence during the October 7 attacks.

The New York Times and Kristof have defended the column, insisting it was a well-sourced piece of journalism:

[Kristof] draws together on-the-record accounts and cites several analyses documenting the practice of sexual violence and abuse conducted by various parts of Israel’s security forces and settlers.

The accounts of the 14 men and women he interviewed were corroborated with other witnesses, whenever possible, and with people the victims confided in — that includes family members and lawyers.

Details were extensively fact-checked, with accounts further cross-referenced with news reporting, independent research from human-rights groups, surveys and in one case, with U.N. testimony. Independent experts were consulted on the assertions in the piece throughout reporting and fact-checking.”

It is unclear how much the state of Israel would be seeking in damages.

The post Israel to Sue New York Times Over ‘Blood Libel’ Accusing Troops of Raping Palestinian Prisoners appeared first on The Gateway Pundit.

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Author: Ben Kew